1937 Nikumaroro landing gear photo, Will a new look at an old photo finally provide the break needed to solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart? We could find out in July, when an expedition dubbed Niku 7, The Earhart Project, leaves for the deep waters of the Pacific off the island of Nikumaroro, in the Republic of Kiribati. Whatever is found, we're sure the Earhart mystique will continue. The aviator was far ahead of her time when she began setting records. But history seems to remember her most for the ending of her life, when she and navigator Fred Noonan, with Earhart in the middle photo at right, were lost somewhere over the Pacific.